Traveling Light With Katherine Leamy, The 5 Kilo Traveller
How can you travel light even on an extended trip? How can traveling light be an attitude to life as well as a practical way to pack your gear? Katherine Leamy talks about these questions and more in this episode. Katherine Leamy is The 5 Kilo Traveller, a freelance travel writer, and blogger based in New Zealand. Show notes * Why traveling light is useful * Ideas for the ideal type of backpack * Advantages of different types of clothing * How to manage toiletries and the weight of liquid vs solid as well as brand tips * Is traveling light an attitude? * Tips for women traveling solo * Recommended travel books You can find Katherine Leamy at the5KiloTraveller.com Transcript of the interview Joanna: Katherine Leamy is ‘The 5 Kilo Traveller,’ a freelance travel writer and blogger based in New Zealand. Welcome, Katherine. Katherine: Thank you very much for having me, Joanna. Joanna: I’m excited to talk about this topic. Why The 5 Kilo Traveller in the first place? Why are you so interested in packing light? Katherine: Back in 2017, I went to Croatia initially by myself for four weeks, and I decided that I needed to be independent with my bag. I wanted to be able to carry it myself, I didn’t want to have to rely on anyone else, because I didn’t have a travel companion to help me. So I really wanted to just have a bag that I could manage myself. And it was also about keeping things safe and secure as well. So that was really the big reason as to why to carry a light bag. And it turned out that when I was in the planning, I ended up with a bag that was just over five kilos, so I got dubbed ‘The 5 Kilo Traveller.’ Joanna: It’s so interesting to me. You said there about being independent, and safe, and secure. I’ve done a lot of independent traveling, I literally would struggle to have a bag that small! And I am really interested in this topic, which is why I wanted to talk to you, especially as I plan for my bigger walks where carrying all this stuff feels important to me, but I think you have a better attitude. So let’s get into some of your thoughts and tips on packing light. Let’s start with the bag itself. Katherine: The bag is a 24 litre bag. It’s really not much bigger than a child’s school bag really. I wanted to have a good carrying capacity. So it carries up to about eight kilos worth of gear. It’s got a good harness system. And it’s got a hip belt. A hip belt is not compulsory. But for me, I was going to be doing some walking between accommodation a bit like when you walk in the Camino. And so I needed it to be really ergonomically designed for my bag and keep my bag sort of safe, I guess. One of the things with the bag is that people say, ‘Do you go for the bag first? Or do you find what you want to put in it and then pick the bag?’ And one of the risks with that is that if you pick a bag, that is say, 30 or 40 litres, you’ll always pack to the capacity of the bag. So by buying a bag that was 24 litres, I knew I was restricting myself to how much I could actually pack. Joanna: My husband is a total bag geek, he will spend hours watching YouTube videos and all these different things. I always have Osprey backpacks. Do you have a particular brand that you like? Katherine: My current bag, the bag that I’ve used for a long time was my Vaude bag, I think which is a German brand. And it’s just incredibly ragged. I’ve had it for five years now. It’s really robust and it’s just been absolutely brilliant for what I’ve been needing it for. Joanna: My little Osprey, I’ve had, I think,